About Chlorinated Solvents

Perchloroethyleneused in dry-cleaners, in industrial textile treatment and for metal surface cleaning.

Trichloroethyleneused into the production of other chemicals such as refrigeration or air conditioning systems.

Safety & Technology

ECSA Guidance on Storage and Handling is intended to help distributors and users of chlorinated solvents to handle those products safely and with care, thus protecting human health and environment against possible negative impact.

Regulatory Compliance

The ECSA Information Sheet for dry-cleaners has been updated to reflect the current legislation on perchloroethylene (PER) in dry-cleaning and to answer questions from the public that we have addressed to dry-cleaning associations.

Sustainability

ECSA analyzed 60 applications and summarized recommendations for a safe & sustainable use of the chlorinated solvents in an online toolbox. This Product & Application Toolbox contains recommendations for more than 350 individual activities.

Latest news

Nouryon increasing capacity of chloromethanes in Germany

ECSA member Nouryon will start construction in May on a project to further increase capacity for chloromethanes at its site in Frankfurt, Germany, expected to be completed in 2020. The company first increased chloromethanes production in Frankfurt in 2017; the new project will increase annual production capacity of the chloromethane methyl chloride by more than 30%. Methyl chloride is used for the manufacture of various construction materials, silicones, surfactants and pharmaceuticals.

Previously Ms. Candido worked as a toxicologist for Penman Consulting, where she managed and coordinated EU chemical registrations under REACH/CLP regulation (and occasionally non-EU) and related tasks. In this role, she coordinated medium/large testing programmes, which included collaborative relationships with clients, research organisations and third parties.

Angelica graduated in Toxicology and Environmental health at Utrecht University, where she focused on endocrine disruptor activities of crude and refined petroleum products.

TRI Authorisations granted

September 2018

Trichloroethylene (TRI) can be used safely under controlled conditions. Five authorisations have been granted to BlueCube Germany (a subsidiary of Olin) to continue to produce TRI for specific uses, for example Industrial Parts Cleaning. Customers of this producer can use TRI for these applications under the conditions set by the EU Commission and the defined risk management measures.

UBA PMT criteria published

February 2018

The German Environment Agency (UBA, Umweltbundesamt) has published the assessment of "Persistence, Mobility and Toxicity (PMT)" with the desire to protect drinking water sources. Applying conservative criteria for PMT as defined by UBA, perchloroethylene (PER) and trichloroethylene (TRI) appear as number 2 and 3 on the report. UBA also aims to establish PMT as an equivalent concern to identify SVHC substance for authorisation under REACH. ECSA does not consider SVHC identification using PMT criteria as the appropriate tool to improve drinking water quality due to this being a pure hazard based approach and thus does not consider risk. TRI is already listed in Annex XIV (authorisation) and today PER is handled almost exclusively in closed systems with no intentional emission to water or soil. For further information see the ECSA position paper on PER here.

New Study on Dichloromethane

February 2018

Together with HSIA, ECSA supported a study to clarify the mode of action of cancer formation for Dichloromethane (DCM). The study results have been published end of 2018. The outcome of the study shows that below the threshold there is no risk of cancer formation related to DCM.

DCM & the Ozone Layer

November 2017

Dichloromethane (DCM) is a highly Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) with a short atmospheric lifetime of only 0.4 years, hence defined as a Very Short Lived Substance (VSLS), but a negligible Ozone Depletion Potential (ODP). Recent publications (e.g. Hossaini et al.) discussed the effect of DCM on the stratospheric ozone, which postulated a high future growth rate of global DCM production and emissions, which led to discussions to include DCM into the Montreal Protocol on the protection of the ozone layer. ECSA and HSIA have provided factual information on global production and emissions by industry, global natural production, behaviour and effect on the stratospheric ozone, and other regulatory developments at a UNEP meeting on the Montreal Protocol in Nov 2017 (available here), based on a scientific assessment of Archie McCulloch (full paper available here; a one-pager summary is also available here).

ECSA is a sector group of

EuroChlor is part of

ECSA – European Chlorinated Solvent Association

Part of Euro Chlor, a Sector Group of Cefic, The European Chemical Industry Council